One chance to restore Fairfax Gardens, through new construction funded by a federal grant, seems to have slipped away.

Colleen Doherty is disappointed, but not dejected, that the Taunton Housing Authority (THA) was recently informed it didn’t qualify for a $22 million federal grant known as “HOPE VI.”

“We had a strong application, but the criteria is very tough. But we’re going to re-apply for it,” said Doherty, the THA’s executive director.

Doherty was optimistic last November when she said the money would go toward a $66 million project to knock down all 29 buildings within the current Fairfax Gardens apartment complex on DeWert Avenue.

The plan, she said, was to rebuild and reduce the number of apartment units at DeWert from 150 to 88 and also build another 62 on Parcel 6A — land owned by the Taunton Redevelopment Authority that sits unused behind the GATRA and Bloom Bus facilities on Washington Street.

HOPE VI is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Once a HOPE VI grant is awarded it can be used to leverage additional funding, Doherty noted.

She also said that she’s appreciative of the recent Operation RF Diesel raids that focused on drug dealing in Fairfax Gardens and led to the arrests of 60 individuals on various drug-related charges.

“Of course the residents are happy to see something like this happen,” Doherty said.

There have been other drug raids and investigations before, she said, but never one of this magnitude in terms of planning and the resources involved.

“It took months and months of investigation,” she said.

Doherty said the ORFD investigation should slow demand for heroin and crack cocaine in Fairfax Gardens.

“They’ll think twice before going in to buy drugs and hopefully to sell drugs there too,” she said.

Approximately 400 lower-income individuals live in Fairfax Gardens, which was built in 1951, Doherty said.

And while there’s no certainty other drug peddlers won’t fill the vacancies left by those who’ve been arrested, she said one shouldn’t dismiss the significance of the multi-agency investigation.